What If?
by Agent Henry
Summary: Nearly a year after Draco left Hermione she finds her time-turner from third year. What if she could stop him from leaving? What if Draco had never changed? What if...?


What If?

**_Here I stand alone  
With this weight upon my heart  
And it will not go away  
In my head I keep on looking back__  
Right back to the start  
Wondering what it was that made you change_**

A young woman was sitting alone on the floor of her bedroom. she was looking through a photo album and she was crying. She had tried so hard not to let the tears fall but in the end it couldn't be helped, and once they had started it was impossible to stop them.

She was acted so strong in public. In work people thought she was happy. In front of her friends it was like she was over it. But she wasn't and only when she was alone would Hermione Granger even think of crying.

The album was a collection of photos from her past relationship. A relationship people thought would never happen. Her friends, work colleagues, the media, everyone was shocked. They said it would never last. But when they had been together nearly three years people knew to change their views. Unfortunately, they had been right. It didn't last. The man in the pictures, the man Hermione fell in love with - and still loves - changed. She didn't know what made him change or why he changed but he did. He was coming home late, they were arguing all the time which nearly always ending with him leaving, not coming back for days. Hermione couldn't take it anymore so she had ended it, she told him to pack his stuff and get out. And he did.

Hermione couldn't help but think about the past or him, of course not, she loved him. She looked at a certain picture. The last picture in the album. It was of the couple on top of the Eiffel Tower, he had took her for her birthday. They were laughing and smiling in the picture, he'd kiss her then the image would start again.

Hermione loved that picture. Not because he took her for her birthday, because it was just before he changed. For that she also hated it, it made her cry even more.

The last picture taken of her and Draco.

**_Well I tried  
But I had to draw the line  
And still this question keeps on spinning in my mind_**

Hermione finally wiped away her tears and saw something shine. She looked up to find where it was coming from. Her gaze stopped at her desk and she put her album down, still open at the photograph, and walked to it. Hermione picked it up and took it back to were she was sitting. She opened her hand and grazed her fingers across it. It was her time-turner from her third year at Hogwarts. She had found it a few months ago when she was cleaning, put it in the corner of her desk and completely forgot about it.

Hermione was staring at it. Staring like it was precious, a treasured possession. She thought and she wondered. What if she could go back and figure out why Draco changed? What if she could stop him from changing? She could have him back.

**_What if I had never let you go  
Would you be the man I used to know  
If I'd stayed  
If you'd tried  
If we could only turn back time  
But I guess we'll never know_**

If Hermione went back in time she would be with Draco again. Her Draco, who he used to be not who he turned into and she would find a way to keep that Draco. If she could keep that Draco, she wouldn't end their relationship. Should I?

**_Many roads to take  
Some to joy  
Some to heart-ache  
Anyone can lose their way  
And if I said that we could turn it back  
Right back to the start  
Would you take the chance and make the change_**

She thought about all the good - no great - times they had together. From long walks on beaches in hot countries he took her to just because he wanted to, to lazy Sundays spent in bed. There was one time she would never forget…

**- Flashback - **

"_Draco stop it."_

"_Stop what?" he asked with an innocent expression on his features. An innocent expression Hermione knew better than to believe._

"_Draco it's not funny."_

"_I have no idea what you're talking about, please explain." _

_Hermione knew that Draco very well knew what she was talking about and Draco knew it, but it was fun playing this little game. Their game had to come to an end eventually though, Hermione had hurt Draco's feelings so she needed to be punished, they both knew that._

_Currently Hermione was stood behind the couch with her back pressed against the wall, while Draco was on the other side wondering whether to climb over it and grab her or run around. If he ran around she would easily run in the other direction, but Draco was fast and could easily and quickly catch her. Hermione was trapped and that put a smile on Draco's face. His girlfriend watched him closely and was suspicious of his unexpected smile and she narrowed her brown eyes at Draco, which only caused him to turn his smile into a full smirk. _

_Hermione was confused, why was he smiling? She was a very smart witch though, smarter than most, even Draco and it was something she told him often. Which is something I have to stop doing she thought to herself. It was why she was in this predicament in the first place. She knew why he was smiling - it was because she was stuck._

_She couldn't do anything, Draco had already caught even if it wasn't by physically touching her, even so she couldn't just give up that was what cowards did. Only Slytherins gave up - well most Slytherins - where as she was brave, she was a Gryffindor. Hermione moved to her left and as soon as Draco moved to his right she ran to her right. Draco just saw it out of the corner of his eye and practically sprinted her way, catching just as she got to the end of the couch and pulled on his lap as he sat down._

"_Give up?" he asked. She shook her head and he tickled her sides._

"_Give up?"_

"_Never!"_

_He tickled her even harder until she was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. He stopped abruptly and turned her to face him, he pinned her to him with one hand and brought his other hand to caress her face, "give up?" he whispered._

_Why do I always give up? she thought. "yes," was her almost silent reply._

_Nothing else was said after that. Draco kissed her softly, but the passion she felt inside was so strong and Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer._

**- end - **

"We stayed like that for a while," she said to herself and laughed a little before more tears came. She wanted that Draco back. She needed him. She thought about all the fights they had, most of which were over nothing, but wouldn't - couldn't - dwell on them. It hurt too much to even think about. Her thoughts wandered to the day he left…

**- Flashback - **

"_I want you out Draco. Get out!" Hermione yelled._

"_Fine! You want me to leave? I'm leaving!" He ran up the stairs to get his stuff. She followed not long after._

"_I can't believe you're actually doing this," she shook her head in disbelief, the Draco she loved wouldn't leave, he would fight to stay, tell her all the reasons why he had to stay; that he loved her, that he needed her and would wouldn't stop until she finally listened to him. But this wasn't her Draco anymore; he left nearly two months ago._

_He packed the rest of his stuff before he looked at her and finally answered, "you want me out, I'm going." He wasn't shouting anymore. Draco shrunk his case put it in his pocket and walked past her down the stairs. He opened the front door and stepped out before turning around, "goodbye Hermione."_

_Draco left._

**- end -**

**_Do you think how it would have been sometimes  
Do you pray that I'd never left your side_**

He hadn't sounded angry when he said he was going, he sounded remorseful. _Why couldn't he have just apologized, I would have made him - literally - put his stuff back. Does he still think of me? Does he wish I'd never left him?_

**_What if I had never let you go  
Would you be the man I used to know  
If I'd stayed  
If you'd tried  
If we could only turn back time  
But I guess we'll never know_**

She stared at the time-turner. This little thing in her hand would decide her fate. If she decided to go back she could either get Draco back or her life would stay exactly the way it was. If she decided not to go back she would either have to move on or wait for Draco to change back and come for her. Draco had left nearly a year ago and him coming back had seemed less and less likely to Hermione by the day until she stopped waiting.

The time-turner was her lifeline. Her only hope.

**_If only we could turn the hands of time  
If I could take you back would you still be mine_**

A few turns and Draco would be hers again. It was so easy. So why can't I do it? would Draco ever be hers again?

**_'Cos I tried  
But I had to draw the line  
And still this question keep on spinning in my mind_**

_What if I'd never let you go Draco?_

**_What if I had never let you go  
Would you be the man I used to know  
What if I had never walked away  
'Cos I still love you more than I can say  
If I'd stayed  
If you'd tried  
If we could only turn back time  
But I guess we'll never know_**

She closed the photo album and put it away then put the time-turner back in the corner on her desk. She couldn't do it. Hermione had absolutely no idea what happened to make Draco change. She needed all the facts, without them she couldn't go back. She couldn't risk having her heart broken again when it hadn't even properly healed yet. She'd never know.

**_We'll never know _**

_What if I'd never let you go Draco?_


End file.
